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Oklahoma and Georgia will meet in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Monday in Pasadena, with both teams having players who played on the high school or community college level in Los Angeles County.

The player with a local tie that figures to make the biggest impact is Oklahoma sophomore receiver Marquise Brown, who leads the team with 981 receiving yards and yard per catch, 20.0. Brown was the leading receiver for College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita in 2016 following a high school career at Chaminade-Madonna High School in Hollywood, Florida.

Brown said he was recruited to attend College of the Canyons by its receivers coach, David Banks, through a friend, Jeremy Lubin, a Cougars receiver who also came from Broward Country in Florida, to come to the school.

“I was skeptical about coming at first, but he talked me into it,” Brown said.

Brown said at College of the Canyons “they taught me about hard work.”

“I’d always been a hard worker growing up, but they taught me to never take no reps off, always go hard,” Brown said.

Living on his own for the first time and having a job for the first time were tough, “but it helped me grow up,” Brown said.

Brown worked as a ride operator on the X2, a 215-foot-tall roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain when he attended College of the Canyons, a job he described as “pretty fun.”

Brown said he chose Oklahoma to complete his college career “because when I first came on my visit it felt like home and I knew coach (Lincoln) Riley … was going to do a good job of playing calling and getting me involved in the offense.”

Brown said he also made an official visit to West Virginia.

Brown quickly became a vital part of the Sooners offense. In his second game, Brown set a school record with 141 receiving yards in the second half of the 56-14 victory over Tulane Sept. 16, including an 87-yard touchdown reception. The performance led him to be selected as the Big 12 Conference’s Newcomer of the Week.

Brown received the honor a second time when he set the school record for receiving yards, 265, Nov. 4, in a 62-52 victory over Oklahoma State, then ranked 12th in The Associated Press poll. The 265 receiving yards were the ninth highest total in Big 12 Conference history and the most by a player from a Power 5 conference team this season.

Brown also tied the school record for receiving yards in a half, 178, in the first half.

He is the first player in Oklahoma history with multiple catches of at least 80 yards in a career.

Brown describes his team as “being full of energy, fun and we compete until the last whistle.”

He is majoring in business administration because “I want to get into real estate after football,” he said.

Sooners redshirt sophomore third-string nose guard Dillon Faamatau was a two-time first-team All-Southern Section and All-Suburban League selection when he played at Norwalk High School. He began his college career at Arizona State, redshirting in 2015, then left because of what he described as “tension between coaches” and “at little bit of … being immature as a freshman.”

Faamatau played at Cerritos College in 2016, making 32 tackles in 10 games.

Faamatau made a nonbinding verbal commitment to attend USC “but through the grapevines coach Riley and coach Thib (a reference to defensive ends coach Calvin Thibodeaux) found me while there were out here recruiting.”

The 6-foot-3, 305-pound Faamatau has played in all 13 of Oklahoma’s games, making nine tackles.

No Georgia players played on the high school level in California. Second-string receiver Ahkil Crumpton played at Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys in 2015 and 2016 after graduating from West Catholic High School in Philadelphia.

Crumpton said he knew in high school that his grades were not high enough for him to be eligible for a college athletic scholarship.

“My mother told me to just comb the country” for top community college programs, Crumpton said.

Crumpton said then tweeted Jaelen Strong, who attended his same high school and went on to play at Arizona State, the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars, after attending Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Crumpton attended Pierce “for two or three days, the coaches had left,” then went to Valley College, helping it to an 11-0 season in 2016, when he was selected as the MVP of the American Division Pacific Championship Bowl.

“I did a lot of growing up coming here to L.A., being out here at 17, by myself, no family members,” said Crumpton, who has caught five passes for 96 yards and one touchdown in 11 games with the Bulldogs. “I learned how to survive as a 17-year-old kid. I learned how to shop, spend my money, save my money.”

Crumpton said he worked at a 99 Cents Only Store in the west San Fernando Valley while attending Valley College.

Georgia has another tie to Southern California through its offensive coordinator, Jim Chaney, who was an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton from 1985-1987 and its offensive coordinator from 1988-92, when it dropped football.

The Rose Bowl Game dispenses with its traditional Big Ten versus Pac- 12 matchup once every three years to serve as a College Football Playoff Semifinal.

The matchup was determined by the final College Football Playoff rankings, which are made by a 13-member committee of five former coaches, four athletic directors, two former administrators, a college president and a former sports reporter.

Big 12 Conference champion Oklahoma (12-1) was second in the final rankings, one spot ahead of Southeastern Conference champion Georgia (12-1).

Top-ranked Clemson (12-1), the Atlantic Coast Conference champion, will face fourth-ranked Alabama (11-1) in the other semifinal on New Year’s Day, the Sugar Bowl.

The winners will meet for the national championship next Monday in Atlanta.

The Sooners have won eight consecutive games and 18 of their last 19. Oklahoma is quarterbacked by Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, who leads the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing efficiency rating, 203.8, completion percentage, .710, yards per pass attempt, 11.8, yards per completion, 16.6, and pass plays of 20-plus yards, 75. His second in touchdown passes with 41.

Oklahoma is first among FBS teams in total offense, averaging 583.3 yards per game and are fourth in scoring, averaging 44.9 points per game.

Both teams will be making their second appearances in the Rose Bowl Game. The Bulldogs defeated UCLA, 9-0, in the 1943 Rose Bowl Game, scoring all their points in the fourth quarter. The Sooners defeated Washington State, 34- 14, on New Year’s Day 2003.

The game will be the first matchup between the two teams. Georgia will be playing in California for the first time since 1960 when it lost to USC, 10-3, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Oklahoma will be playing in the state for the first time since its 17-14 victory over Oregon in the 2005 Holiday Bowl in San Diego.

Former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel, now a college football studio analyst for CBS, said he expects “an offensive game, which I think is going to better suited for Oklahoma.”

“If Georgia can keep it a time-consuming, ball-control deal and can get some stops, then Georgia will win the game, but I think that will be a hard thing to get done with Baker Mayfield and company,” Neuheisel told City News Service.

The Los Angeles Rams will face the Atlanta Falcons in an NFC wild card round game Saturday night, the first NFL playoff game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum since 1993.

The Rams concluded the regular season with a 34-13 loss to theSan Francisco 49ers Sunday at the Coliseum, with running back Todd Gurley and defensive tackle Aaron Donald, both Pro Bowl selections, and quarterback Jared Goff among the 13 starters given the day off by coach Sean McVay to avoid the possibility of injuries and to give them rest in advance of the playoffs.

The NFC West champion Rams finished the regular season 11-5, their best record since 2003 when they were based in St. Louis. The Rams are the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs. Atlanta is seeded sixth with a 10-6 record and are the NFC’s second wild card team.

If the Rams defeat the Falcons, they would play NFC North champion Minnesota Vikings in a divisional round playoff game Jan. 14 in Minneapolis, under the playoff brackets announced by the NFL on Sunday. The Rams last playoff victory was in 2004, when they defeated the Seattle Seahawks, 27-20, in a wild card round game.

The Rams never led Sunday, allowing the first 10 points and trailing 10-3 at the end of the first quarter, 20-6 at halftime and 27-6 entering the fourth quarter.

Sean Mannion, who started in place of Goff, completed 20 of 34 passes for 169 yards, in the first start of his three-season NFL career. Lance Dunbar ran eight yards with six minutes, 40 seconds to play for the Rams lone touchdown.

Sam Ficken kicked a 23-yard field goal in the first quarter and 21- yard field goal as time expired in the first half for the Rams.

The Rams were outgained, 463 yards to 251, and trailed 25-15 in first downs. They led in time of possession, 30:51-29:09.

Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns in his fifth victory in five games since becoming the 49ers quarterback Dec. 5. Garoppolo completed 20 of 33 passes and had two passes intercepted. Carlos Hyde ran for 90 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries for San Francisco (6-10).

Robbie Gould opened the scoring with a 33-yard field goal on the game’s opening drive. He also kicked a 48-yard field goal with five minutes left in the second quarter for the 49ers.

The then-Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Denver Broncos, 42-24, in an AFC wild card round playoff game on Jan. 9, 1994, the most recent NFL playoff game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

All the scenarios of the Chargers making the playoffs depended on the Tennessee Titans losing or tying the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday. The Chargers also would have needed the Buffalo Bills to lose or tie the Miami Dolphins or the Baltimore Ravens to defeat or tie the Cincinnati Bengals.

However, Tennessee’s 15-10 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars ended the Chargers playoff hopes. The Chargers and Titans both ended the season with 9-7 records but Tennessee had the tiebreaker advantage.

The Chargers have not made the playoffs since 2013. They were seeking to join the 1992 Chargers as the only NFL teams to make the playoffs after an 0- 4 start.

Philip Rivers threw three touchdown passes as the Chargers scored the final 23 points to overcome a 10-7 second-quarter deficit to complete their first season sweep over the Raiders since 2014.

The Chargers took the lead for good five minutes, 21 seconds before halftime on Rivers 56-yard touchdown pass to Tyrell Williams. The Chargers increased their lead to 20-10 on their next possession, as Rivers threw a 6- yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen with 30 seconds left in the first half.

The Chargers got a 25-yard field goal from Nick Rose and a 62-yard touchdown pass from Rivers to Travis Benjamin on their first two possessions of the second half before a pro-Raiders capacity crowd announced at 25,430.

The game was the Raiders first in the Los Angeles area since they returned to Oakland following the 1994 season.

The Chargers outgained Oakland, 495 yards to 336, and led 26-14 in first downs and 33:20-26:40 in time of possession. The Chargers converted seven of 13 third downs, 54 percent and the Raiders four of 11, 36 percent.

Oakland failed to get a first down on three fourth-down conversion opportunities. The Chargers failed to get a first down on their only fourth down conversion.

The Chargers opened the scoring 13:19 before halftime. Melvin Gordon ran for 11 yards and his fumble was recovered by Allen, who ran 27 yards for the touchdown.

All the scenarios of the Chargers making the playoffs depended on the Tennessee Titans losing or tying the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday. The Chargers also would have needed the Buffalo Bills to lose or tie the Miami Dolphins or the Baltimore Ravens to defeat or tie the Cincinnati Bengals.

However, Tennessee’s 15-10 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars ended the Chargers playoff hopes. The Chargers and Titans both ended the season with 9-7 records but Tennessee had the tiebreaker advantage.

The Chargers have not made the playoffs since 2013. They were seeking to join the 1992 Chargers as the only NFL teams to make the playoffs after an 0- 4 start.

Philip Rivers threw three touchdown passes as the Chargers scored the final 23 points to overcome a 10-7 second-quarter deficit to complete their first season sweep over the Raiders since 2014.

The Chargers took the lead for good five minutes, 21 seconds before halftime on Rivers 56-yard touchdown pass to Tyrell Williams. The Chargers increased their lead to 20-10 on their next possession, as Rivers threw a 6- yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen with 30 seconds left in the first half.

The Chargers got a 25-yard field goal from Nick Rose and a 62-yard touchdown pass from Rivers to Travis Benjamin on their first two possessions of the second half before a pro-Raiders capacity crowd announced at 25,430.

The game was the Raiders first in the Los Angeles area since they returned to Oakland following the 1994 season.

The Chargers outgained Oakland, 495 yards to 336, and led 26-14 in first downs and 33:20-26:40 in time of possession. The Chargers converted seven of 13 third downs, 54 percent and the Raiders four of 11, 36 percent.

Oakland failed to get a first down on three fourth-down conversion opportunities. The Chargers failed to get a first down on their only fourth down conversion.

The Chargers opened the scoring 13:19 before halftime. Melvin Gordon ran for 11 yards and his fumble was recovered by Allen, who ran 27 yards for the touchdown.

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The Raiders (6-10) took a 10-7 lead on Derek Carr’s 87-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper and Giorgio Tavecchio’s 40-yard field goal.

WARNING. This adventure contains graphic images and language not suitable for children.

Collect the secret letters, avoid death, and uncover the hidden phrase for your chance to win a $100 gift card to Amazon.com!

To enter, please send the secret code to hauntedhouse@firsttoknow.com. We’ll select a winner at random from the correct submissions and contact you via email to send you the prize! (Only one submission per email allowed).

The deadline to send in your submission is November 3, 2017. Good luck!

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In the weeks leading up to Halloween, the creepy abandoned house at the end of the street has become noticeably more spooky. The shutters bang open and shut as you walk by, even with no wind. The overgrown lawn seems to reach out and grab you from behind the fence, and you swear you saw something moving in the top window.

No one has lived here since the mysterious disappearance of the Stensons, who went missing two years ago the night before Halloween. Two years ago tonight.

The sun is almost set and the streetlights flicker on one after the other. You and your best friend, Casey, have dared each other to sneak into the house and spend the night here.

You open the creaky iron gate and walk up the cracked stone path towards the front door. You look back at Casey, who nods.

On Saturday, GossipCop, known for debunking celebrity news reports, posted an interview with Gomez’s mother. The website quoted Teefey as saying she is “not happy” with her daughter and Bieber’s latest reunion, but says, “Selena can live her life however she wants as long as she is happy, safe and healthy.”

Gomez’s rep had no immediate comment about the reported remarks by Teefey.

“She is 25 years old and knows what is at stake with her health. I do not control her the way it has been portrayed,” GossipCop quoted Gomez’s mother as saying. “Selena is an adult and can make her own choices.”Also in December, another source signaled to E! News that Gomez’s relationship with her mom was strained long before Bieber re-entered her life.

GossipCop said Gomez’s mother denied that a rift widened when she and her husband stopped managing the singer’s career in 2014.

“Every mother and daughter has disagreements,” the website quoted Teefey as saying.

Meanwhile, Bieber’s family loves Gomez.”That want him to date someone and think she is very sweet and a good girl,” an insider told E! News in December. “They are happy with how Justin is doing and his focus. They support him going to church often and having his faith being such a big part of his life.”

“They think that being back together with Selena is a positive thing,” the source said. “He wants to do things differently and make it right and show everyone how far he has come.”

Stranger Things‘ Charlie Heaton took to Instagram this weekend to pen a sweet birthday tribute to girlfriend and onscreen love interest Natalia Dyer.

The actress turned 23 on Saturday. Heaton, also 23, posted what appeared to be an old photo of her smiling while holding a piece of cake, along with a throwback message.

“Happy 21st birthday!” he wrote. “@nattyiceofficial I hope it’s a great one and I’m stoked to be working on this new series with you. I think it’s gonna be great.”

Heaton and Dyer—who unlike her appearance in his photo, now sports blond hair—play Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler on the ’80s-themed supernatural series, whose second season was released on Netflix in October.

In his message to Dyer, Heaton also wrote, “Not feeling too well but I still wanna meet you at piedmont park tonight x.””See you there x,” Dyer replied.

Piedmont Park is located in Atlanta, where parts of Stranger Things were filmed. Heaton, a British citizen, has not been photographed in the United States since he was reportedly detained at Los Angeles International Airport in October and denied entry into the country due to possession of trace amounts of cocaine. He was not arrested and immediately returned to London, reports said.

As a result of the incident, he missed the Stranger Things season two premiere party and was also unable to take part in press events for the series in the U.S.More than a week later, he said in a statement, “My planned travel to the U.S. last week was affected by an issue at U.S. immigration, and I am working to rectify it as soon as possible. I do want to clarify that I was not arrested or charged with a crime, and cooperated fully with the U.S. officials at LAX. I’m sorry to all the fans and my Stranger Things family for missing the premiere. We are all so proud of this season and I would never want this story to negatively impact the show.”

Since then, he and Dyer have reunited a few times in a few cities in Europe. On Saturday, he walked the red carpet alone at GQ’s 2018 Best Dressed Man event in Milan, Italy.